Terrible Company - Be warned and ignore other reviews praising company that provide little substance
Pros
This role starts out lazy and you think you've hit the jackpot. Manager doesn't bother you first couple weeks...hell he/she may not say a word to you first three months. The reason is not because he/she is nice...its because you're billing to CON Job Training. Since the company has no training, this is pretty much a way for RSI to pass three months so they can start ripping off government clients into saying look at how much this person learned by sitting around while RSI didn't bill you at all. They don't really care about what you learn or how you grow, they just want you to pass the three months and not miss days. That's all it is, and I'll explain why an arrangement like this may not be the best thing in the con section especially if you're looking to learn valuable skills on the job. Another very light pro that you're working in government offices no one generally bothers or stresses you out if you keep your head low and get your work done, the transition into the job is generally not bad...probably not too different from other consulting firms in that sense since you're making them money even if you're staring at the wall for 8 hours a day. So again, these pros should be taken with a grain of salt. If you're coming in at a high position/ well paid, and you just want to clock in your time and grow old making some higher level people very rich, don't mind driving to 2 hours to Maine, Indiana, Missouri or other desolate parts of the USA, then great. This is the job for you.
Cons
I'm going to explain in very measured terms why I feel like this is a poisonous company for your long and short term career and it treats employees like an IT sweatshop. First of all they don't care how good you are, they just care if you can do the job without clients complaining and bill to clients. The company does not have offices or a company culture or anything that would build employee loyalty to keep costs as low as possible. I believe the pay is well (15 to 20 K) below market rate for what is basically either a business analyst or programmer role, there is zero flexibility compared to other consulting firms like work from home etc., no merit recognition (Pembroke just views you as a number on an excel spreadsheet and they just want to keep costs down, I doubt they even bother reading reviews etc and they have pre-decided bonuses based on a very crude criteria), zero training (you'll see people from Accenture or Deloitte send even their entry level hires to serious training sessions and conferences while RSI will give you a YouTube video to watch and click through), and career advancement (You'll waste close to a decade of your life before being admitted to Manager position- while you see your friends at Fortune 500/ Consulting firms attain sr. management positions within half the time). Be prepared to be abused and used like a slave by managers and Sr. Consultants who want to take credit for your work without any shame. Working with this company and the coding (PL/SQL only) you will do in technology that is decades old will leave you with little skills if this is your first job and much worse off if you came in even as a half-way decent coder. I feel like a young person should tread carefully in making a decision to join this company as the most important question for you should be what am I learning in terms of technology and skills. Their tax software is not a a quality product, and their engineers are paid so low I don't know how anyone could work at this company so close to Silicon Valley. I feel like turnover in the Roseville, CA Solutions center is so high that they've even stopped trying to pretend like those people will stay beyond 1 year. Managers can vary in their general attitudes but for the most part are not quality individuals or people who care about your growth in any way, they just want to keep earning their bonuses. Even for the ones considered "nice", once a deadline hits, they will ask you to work weekends or stay late or give you a ton of work which you won't get any overtime for or bonus for. The bonus is not a merit based thing. It is meant to be a part of your salary. It is there to ensure that you stay at the company by December 30-31 and have billed long enough for the founders, directors and few Sr. level individuals to make millions in profit. The profit sharing is such a joke, I don't even want to dignify it by talking about it...don't factor it into anything. Guess any reasonable human that can stick around for 7-10 years (number of years you need to reach Manager level) at this company pretty much gets a leash and collar saying..RIP Career. Managers and Directors have very little respect for employees other than what you can get done for them. This is not a hyperbole, it is very evident within the first few months of your role here. Mark Havens and upper management continue to tout in Town Hall meetings that they made over $30 million in profit (that is after costs with margins of over 50%) while employees are paid well below market rate and work long hours (I feel like they might start leaving that info out due to reviews . They can get away with this because the competitive market forces of the private sector don't apply to slow moving government clients. I was told this company was founded by people who were pissed off like the current COO/CFO not getting Partner at KPMG, but the irony is that this company has very little merit based recognition or promotions. It doesn't matter what you do, you get promoted only on a fixed time-table which is completely unrealistic and unlike anything I've seen at other companies that are adjusting to the new era of competitive technology markets. If you're young and smart, you probably stumbled in this job in a bad market. I would advise you to keep looking for another role or better yet just call it an honest mistake based on their aggressive tactics and false marketing, and get out as soon as you can. Its just not worth it when there are other companies that will pay you more, treat you well with flexibility and learning, and allow you to grow so much better. If you're passionate about technology or a college graduate, please avoid this company unless you have extreme circumstances or after graduating you were literally working at the IT Help desk at your school or Burger King.